Attitudes and Conditions for Cooperation in a Paper Recycling Program

Examined receptivity toward paper recycling in relation to people's accuracy with wastepaper separation among (a) personnel with 2 wastebaskets in offices, (b) personnel with divided wastebaskets, and (c) personnel depositing nonsalvageable waste outside offices. A large university was used for the research, and half of each study group received encouragement to cooperate throughout this experiment. Findings indicate that receptivity and accuracy in wastepaper separation were related positively, but separation was better where the required effort was minimal, as in offices with 2 wastebaskets. People's accuracy with wastepaper separation deteriorated over time, but not enough to nullify the effect of asking people to participate in a paper recycling program. Encouragement did not have a statistically significant impact on accuracy with separation. No change in receptivity toward manual wastepaper separation was found among participants after the experiment. It is concluded that office workers are willing and able to cooperate in paper recycling, though more needs to be known about improving people's accuracy in manual wastepaper separation. (25 ref)